Tag Archives: bristol brewing

First, there’s Victorian Day on Sunday (June 26) at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum downtown. Looks like fun, and it’s free. There will be Victorian dance demonstration, a courtroom “melodrama,” free lemonade and watermelon and some Civil War re-enactors.

You can come to Victorian Day dressed in your best "finery." I wanted to grow my facial hair this way for the event, but someone else who lives in the house vetoed the decision.

On Wednesday (June 29), there’s the second annual whiskey/beer tasting at the Fine Arts Center. The Whiskey for My Men, Beer for My Horses event costs $20 for nonmembers ($15 for FAC members), but if you wear a “big-ass” belt buckle, you can get $5 off admission. There will be samples from Downslope Distilling and Bristol Brewing, with music by Grass It Up, a bluegrass band from Colorado Springs.

After some midweek whiskey drinking, you might want to tone it down a little on Thursday with some Pinon Nut Brown Ale from Bristol Brewing. While the beer is probably outstanding, it’s worth the visit for the food from Blue Sage Catering. We had some of their food at Bristol’s Christmas Ale party. They’re incredible.

On Friday, the first day of July, nearly a hundred longhorn steers will be herded down Tejon Street. Why they’re doing this, I’m not sure — something to do with the rodeo, I guess. Whatever. Not into rodeos, but at noon on Friday, dozens of cows will be tromping along Tejon, so it sounds like something worth seeing.

Yes, excuse me, I'm looking for Zeezo's -- am I on the right street?

July 2-4, if you haven’t had enough bovine entertainment, you can swing on over to Manitou Springs for the Buffalo Barbeque Festival at Soda Springs Park. Of course I’m not sure how entertaining the barbecue is for these bovines, but it sounds delicious.

Bristol Brewing Co. had a competition for the right to design the label to its seasonal Smokebrush Porter, and the winner will be unveiled Thursday at a release party at Smokebrush’s new space, Marmalade. It’s under a bridge, apparently.

This means that there is an opportunity to drink beer and look at art. And also, an opportunity to drink beer under a bridge without the stigma of being destitute. Win-win.

Drink beer under a bridge and look at art. And find out who won the label-design contest.

We were at Coaltrain last week, and people kept asking whether the Venetucci had come in yet. I didn’t know what they were talking about. Sounded like a wine. But it was very clearly a Serious Thing, because there was a waiting list. And one guy said he just came from Bristol and there was a line out the door, so we figured it was some kind of beer.

Eventually, we figured out it was Bristol Brewing Co.’s Venetucci Pumpkin Ale that everyone was so agog over.

It’s kind of a coincidence because just a couple of weeks earlier, we tasted Halloweenhead Pumpkin Ale from Phantom Canyon and were surprised by how much we liked it.

We were also a little surprised that we had never heard of the Venetucci Pumpkin Ale before. What we’ve learned since:

Bristol brews the pumpkin ale only once a year.

The waiting list is two years.

This year, they sold out in 12 hours.

So we gave up. We were just too late to this game, and the Venetucci was already over. But then, through a series of cosmic coincidences, Adrienne discovered some at one of our favorite downtown places (we’re not saying where because we don’t want you going there and hogging all the pumpkin ale).

Venetucci Pumpkin Ale, at last. After a grueling two days of searching. What a treat. Smooth, creamy, pumpkiny. Adrienne says it tastes like pumpkin pie. At any rate, believe the hype — and get on that waiting list.

At long last, we finally get to try the elusive Venetucci Pumpkin Ale. Worth the wait.